Demon Slaying
by Cedargirl
Summary: Everyone has their favorite duo in the series. My personal favorites are Billy the Kid and Black Hawk. In this tale they are joined by new characters and face one of the greatest dangers known: a Demon. Rated T for some violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: I do not own "Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel". Michael Scott own this wonderful series.:) Please read and review. This is my first fanfic and I want to know what people think.**

Demon Slaying

Chapter1

The woods of mount Tamalpais were quiet in the cool light of the full moon. No creature stirred, even crickets were silent.

The moonlight glinted off the armor of the huge creature moving through the trees. The monster stopped, scenting the air with a forked tongue, a scorpion tail poised over it's back, multiple legs softly rustling the leaves that carpeted the ground. It's huge night eyes turned to where in the distance the lights of San Francisco glittered. The enticing aroma it had caught on the wind was coming from that place.

The smell of prey, of warm blood, flesh, of auras and memories in huge numbers. Unlike the place it had come from, in this place there was a feast to be had.

Moonlight reflected off its scales as it moved through the trees towards the city, following the scent.

* * *

><p>Billy the Kid raised the gun to his shoulder and looked out from the fortress, across the field. Nothing moved. They'd better not, he thought, or else they'd be eating paint before they could blink. He loved paintball. It was great to be able to shoot someone without actually maiming or killing them.<p>

Well, not usually maiming or killing. When you were playing with immortals it could get a bit more dangerous than it perhaps should.

Especially if you were playing the "anything goes" version, where, well, anything went. And immortals have much more up their sleeves to break out for that version than most people want to hear about. Ever.

Billy jumped down from the haybales. The "fortress" was really just a haybarn that for paintball purposes was given a grand name and occupied. It wasn't much of a fortress, or even a barn, just 3 walls and a roof, 20 feet tall and the same width, 30 feet long, but the gap between the walls and roof was good to shoot from and hard to aim into, and it was easily the most defendable place within the alloted area.

Three teams were playing, his, one led by his friend Black Hawk, and the third led by a next generation named Tanya Sinouav.

He walked over to where the rest of his team had set up a strategy conference.

"Any guesses as to where the other teams are based?" inquired a teammate.

"I haven't got a clue where Tanya will be, but i think Hawk is most likely here," Billy said, pointing to a spot on the map, "maybe under the bridge. Tanya might be in the hills north of here, but there's no way we can send scouts, they'll get annihilated by the wolves."

Tanya had what he considered an unfair advantage in two half siblings that were spirit wolves from one of the northern packs. Unlike their European relations, Torc Madra, they were incredibly smart, strategic,and above all dangerous. They would be running watches through the area.

Jackson, another immortal, frowned. "That's for sure. As usual we'll have to settle for attacking Black Hawk first, then going after Tanya."

"We'd better hurry up, whatever we do. We're visible here, and the other teams will not be wasting any time attacking us because of that." He thought for a moment. "We'll send out scouts into Black Hawk's territory. If they hit on his base camp we'll launch an attack, but I want most of us back here at base incase they beat us to the punch. Whoever we send needs to be quiet about it though, I don't want anyone to have a clue what we're up to."

* * *

><p>" They're sending out scouts into Black Hawk's area, to try and locate his base camp"<p>

Tanya Sinouav nodded to herself. That sounded like what Billy would do. No surprises there. The young woman next to her continued.

"But he'll be keeping most of the team's force nearby to defend their camp in case of an attack."

Tanya grinned at her companion. " I don't know what we'd do without you Kate."

Kate returned the smile. "Well you'd probably lose a bit more than usual."

Katherine Barlow didn't look like much. Unless you knew her, or could sense auras, you'd never know she was anything special. She was short, and everything about her, hair, eyes, skin, was pale and uninteresting.

She was, however, currently the youngest immortal in the world. She'd been born with the sight, but as she'd aged it had intensified until every elder in America was desperate to claim her as their own. Things had come to a head suddenly when a car wreck left her near to death .

Her master had healed her with immortality, leaving her 17 for eternity. She was glad to leave her old life behind. In the human world she'd been considered a freak for her predictions, but as an immortal she was respected and appreciated for her rare gift.

"Any insights on what Black Hawk is up to?" Tanya asked. If Kate had a polar opposite, that person would be Tanya Fenrira. With pointed teeth, deep brown hair, skin a shade lighter, golden eyes,and the kind of face that belongs to a trouble maker, she was all too noticeable. If Kate was unnasuming, then Tanya was neon screaming "dangerous".

Kate frowned, searching the threads of time filtering through the back of her mind. A sudden revalation made her grin.

"Oh this is perfect. Black Hawk is launching a one man mission to take out Billy, then attacking us in force."

Tanya grinned dangerously, teeth savage in her mouth. " So we wait for Hawk to take out Billy and then beat him at his own game."

* * *

><p>"We've got attackers!" Billy snatched up his gun and ran for the wall. Looking over he realized it was just one attacker, Black Hawk. He checked, no flag of truce.<p>

The Kid started shooting.

" He's got grenades!" someone yelled. Sure enough, a grenade came sailing into the barn and exploded, blowing green paint in every direction. Nobody was missed.

"Oh come on!" Billy yelled, kicking the wall hard enough to dent the sheet metal.

" You are dead! You are so dead!" Hawk was yelling up at him.

"That has to be illegal! even if it's not, that's just plain evil!"

"Look who's talking, hypocrite! Ah ah, you can't throw rocks at me! You're dead!"

Swearing, Billy dropped the rock he'd been about to throw.

" Drop dead, Hawk!"

To his incredible shock, Black Hawk did just that, falling flat on his face, a splash of red across his back. He sat up with a stunned look on his face.

"Where did that come from?"

They both looked in the direction of the shot. A quarter of a mile away, a flash of red appeared in the tree tops and launched a glider into the air.

Tanya waved her gun at them while controling the wind to carry her closer. She pulled her Blue tooth from her pocket. The two immortal's phones rang.

" Game Over." came Tanya's voice.

Black Hawk was seething,"You may have got me, but my team is still out there, and even if you cut off a wolf's head, it can still bite you."

" True," came the reply, " But I don't think I have much to worry about." she unhooked a walkie talkie from her belt and spoke into it

"Two flares," she said simply.

Everyone turned to look as two flares of red rose shrieking from the woods above Black Hawk's base camp.

" Like I said, Game Over."

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, thirty very paint spattered immortals came trudging up to the Dorms. The Dorms were the center of nearly all the immortal activity on the West Coast. Half the immortals in California lived there, and the rest still reported back to the dull cinderblock building on the outskirts of San Franscisco for orders and news. Nobody asked who anyone else's master was, and if you picked a fight with someone because your elders disliked each other, then you were fined and kicked out for the minimum of a month. That was the rule after the Civil War.<p>

Kate and Tanya sprung up the steps, Kate laughing as Tanya demonstrated the look on Black Hawk's face when she'd shot him. Both women were completely free of paint. The guys came behind them, both looking like the end of the world, Billy covered in green, Black Hawk with a huge splash of red between his shoulder-blades.

"One of these days we really have to find their base camp! I'd like to see them act so cocky if it was actually a fair fight. They're becoming insufferable! It's the fourth time in a row they've won!" Billy was ranting as they came through the door. once inside, however, his mood changed from aggravation to confusion.

"What's happened?" The usual crazy atmosphere of the dorms was gone and had been replaced by a stunned silence, and everyone had a worried look on their face.

Calpurnia Rivers, the dorm head, wordlessly tossed him a newspaper. He caught it and scanned the headline, Black Hawk looking over his shoulder.

It was the same as it had been for the past three days: TERRIBLE MURDERS! MUTILATED CORPSES FOUND NEAR CITY PIERS! DEATH COUNT NOW AT FOUR! POLICE BAFFLED!. They'd all wondered what was going on and marvelled at the ineptitude of the police, but no-one had been worried.

"So?" Black Hawk asked the dorm head, " It's the same as yesterday's." but stopped as next to him, the Kid's eyes went wide in shock, fixed on one spot on the page.

The name of the latest victim. His mouth fell open as he read it.

"Oh no."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"This is serious. Now we have to investigate this." Billy said. On the page before him was the name of an immortal.

'Robert L. Parker, 31, was found dead this morning in an alley close to the Golden Gate Bridge. He was the latest victim in the recent string of killings that has plaugued the city. Like the other victims, his corpse was badly mutilated. So far the police say they have found no similarities between victims except they were all in the area when they were killed. The public is warned to keep away from the area as much as possible, and to stay off the streets after dark. Anyone wishing to report anything suspicious should call the toll free hotline at...'

"Whoever or whatever this is is attacking immortals!" Black Hawk was intimidated by the news of a dead immortal. If your master didn't kill you, not much should be able to, and none of it should be running loose in a city with more immortals than any in the states except New York. " It was none of our buisiness before, but now it's personal! Butch Cassidy went out to get something from a 7/11 and now he's dead. He wouldn't go out without a fight, so then whatever this is can take down a fully armed immortal!"

" What on earth could have done that?" Kate said, taking the paper from Billy.

"I can think of several things, all of them bad." he told her.

"We at least have to find out what it is that's done this. I can think of a lot more things than Billy can, and if any of them found their way here it would be catastrophic." Tanya said. It obviously worried her more than she was letting on judging by her next statement. She took a deep breath. "We might have to call Quetzalcoatl on this. But he won't come unless we have concrete evidence. We need to do some recon for this." Tanya's eyes had a nervous glint to them and her fangs were long in her mouth. " I'll go, but I won't go alone. Kid, Hawk, can I count on you guys?"

The two looked at each other. If Tanya had even suggested calling in Quetzalcoatl, then this had to be dead serious. It was common knowledge that she hated their master more than Cucubuths hated Dearg-due. The two were related pretty closely in elder terms, and she was the family embarrassment, the half wolf.

She'd been on a crusade her entire life to prove that she didn't need her family's help in anything. The fact that she even considered calling her uncle, meant that she didn't think she could handle it herself. And in their experience, if Tanya couldn't handle something, then you got the heck out of there, possibly fleeing the country all together!Even the fact that their master would obliterate them if they let his niece get herself killed wouldn't be enough to cause them to volunteer. Neverless, after a quick glance at each other to make sure they wouldn't be alone in their deciscion, they both replied the same thing.

" Yeah."

" Sure, I'm in."

Tanya nodded, glad to have help. "Then let's get going. It's nearly 6:00 and our best chance is to have seen all there is to see by sun down. I don't want to face this thing in the dark. We need every advantage we can get."

Kate had realized something "What about me? If you guys are going then I am too!"

"No." said the other three simultaneously. As the youngest immortal both phisically and chronologically, everyone tried to keep Kate away from dangerous missions as much as possible, at least untill she was over 50 and had completed her training. And if Quetzalcoatl would kill them over Tanya, then they didn't even know what he'd do if they even suggested that Kate could come. He'd done way to much to get her for her to be endangered, and if ever there was a dangerous situation, then it was this one.

"No." Tanya continued, "You can see what's coming, even if it's only clear minutes before it happens. You're our ace-in-the-hole. We need you focusing all you've got on finding out what this is. If you get anything, text me." She glanced at Calpurnia who was listening to them with a worried look. " Cal, can you make sure she does?"

The dorm head nodded " Y'all be careful. There's something nasty about this. I can tell. You three better walk away from this alive."

"Don't worry Cal, we will." Tanya smiled then turned to the other two. "Get your weapons. Time to track some monster."

* * *

><p>"So does anybody have anything even resembling a plan or do we just look til we find something then make it up from there?" Billy asked the world at large.<p>

The three of them were standing at the mouth of a dingy alleyway near the city's piers. Apparently everyone had taken the advice of the police, because an hour from sun down the entire area was deserted. The Kid was anxious to get out of the open. The last thing they needed was to get reported by someone thinking they looked suspicious. Which he had to admit, they did.

Tanya frowned "While it's still light we should look for any kind of trail. Blood, scuff marks. Black Hawk, do you know if Butch had his gun?"

Black Hawk nodded. "Yeah he wouldve been fully armed. I'm surprised they didn't metion that in the article."

"Or maybe he didn't have it on him when they found him, which probably means he drew it, but lost it at some point. So anyway, look for bullet casings, or the gun itself. But when the sun goes down, we'll have to join back up." She threw her head back and inhaled, searching for any scent that could lead her to what she was looking for.

Billy shrugged, stuck his hands in his pockets and set off down the alley way, eyes on the ground. He'd never admitt it, but half of him hoped they didn't find anything.

The way Tanya was acting scared him. She was actually worried about this. And if that wasn't enough, he had a good idea of what this could be, and he didn't like the thought of meeting it down a dark alley.

* * *

><p>Kate Barlow sat on her bed, a look of intense concentration on her pale face. She had a bad feeling about this whole situation.<p>

A few minutes after the others had left, an edge had come over the tangled threads at the back of her mind, as if the misty strands had turned to steel wool. She slowly combed through them as they flowed past, waiting for them to clarify. She hated when it was like this. Usually events came clear just minutes before they actually happened, but if she tried hard enough, she could often get them sooner. No luck tonight. The future was currently about as clear as a golem. That was bad enough, but then there was that bitter feel to what she blurrily could see, like she'd bit a green persimmon while seeing them.

She slowly closed her eyes. _Come on_, she thought, _come clear._ And then, in a rush it did, the truth leaping out at her from the threads of time, with teeth bared. She opened her eyes screaming.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Black Hawk moved quickly down the darkening alley, scanning the ground for signs of a struggle, blood, anything that might show him a path. He inhaled, trying to catch a scent, ignoring the smell of the sea, the smells of tar and oil from the docks, the odors of grime and grit, searching for something older, dangerous, unnatural.

He walked a few more steps , pausing in front of an abandoned warehouse. Something on the concrete caught his eye.

A drop of dried blood stood out from the pale stone of the loading dock. Conscious of the light disappearing from the alley, he instantly bent to study it.

* * *

><p>One alley over, Tanya's phone beeped, playing the theme from "Lord of the Rings", her favorite movie. She'd stunt doubled for a few of the actors.<p>

She pulled her cell quickly from her pocket, reading the number of the text. It was from Kate. She hurriedly viewed the message, terror gripping her with a jolt like an electric fence and a cattle prod combined. She took off running.

"Hawk!" she screamed, "RUN! GET OUT OF THERE!"

The scream reached his ears a moment too late. Even as he turned, something tightened around his ankle, dragging him back through the doorway of the warehouse.

* * *

><p>Billy looked at the small cylinder he'd found. It was a bullet casing, and a few feet away the dirt was scuffed and thrown around, clear sign of a struggle. Even the pavement was cracked. Something black and caustic looking was spattered on the walls.<p>

A few feet forward he found Butch's hat, torn and bloodied. Whatever had gotten him, had gotten him here.

He was searching for a trail when he heard Tanya scream. An instant later, Black Hawk yelped in shock, and several gun shots shattered the night. He dropped the casing and tore down the alley, drawing his automatic as he ran. He skidded around the corner, and was halted by the scene that met his eyes.

Tanya had her sword out and was hacking at a clawed limb that was trying to drag Black Hawk through the door of a warehouse. A heartbeat later, a huge _something_ burst through the door way as Tanya hacked the limb off at the joint, and Black Hawk scrambled backwards.

Billy leveled his pistol and fired. The thing was huge! At least 10' tall with pincers and a tail like a scorpion. Besides those, there were around 5 other sets of legs, each with three claws. It's four eyes were red and the size of tennis balls, set over a mouth showing way too many needle sharp teeth. If a scorpion, a praying mantis, and Nidhogg were crossed, then this would be the result.

Tanya screamed again, giving name to the horror they faced. " It's a demon! A NIGHTSHADE!"

Billy's shot hit the monster's armour and bounced off. He swore, and fired again, aiming this time for the joints. Black Hawk had his gun up and was shooting for the nightshade's head, hitting it in the eye. It fell back, thrashing, a keening screech splitting their ears, spatters of blood flying. One splashed on the Kid's arm, burning like boiling acid.

Tanya ducked the nightshade's flailing limbs and drove her sword into a joint in its armoured side, but had to release her grip on it when the stinging tail flew in her direction. She ducked, the stinger scratching across her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Black Hawk about to call up his aura, to use Earth magic against the demon.

"NO! Don't activate your aura! It'll kill us all!"

The monster turned on Black Hawk, eye oozing black blood, and Billy saw an opportunity.

He pulled out his knife and ran up the nightshade's back, trying to get to the weak spot at the base of the neck. At the top, it hit him suddenly just how insanely stupid this was.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay sorry it took me a while for this next chapter. I started back to school, and I go to this school with an 8 hour school day...yeah. **

**Anyway just thought I'd say: I do not own the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. Michael Scott does. If I did I would be in the Creative Writing department instead of Music.**

**Here you go, new chapter:**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<p>

Billy clung desperately to the spikes on the back of the creature's head as it tried to shake him off.

His knife was still clutched in one hand, and as the nightshade flailed, his knife arm was waving wildly. He was lucky not to have stabbed himself already. Finally, the nightshade flung itself backwards in an attempt to impale him with it's spikes, and completely by accident, he stuck the knife in its eye.

The nightshade squealed and swung its tail at the Kid before he could jump off. The stinger missed him, barely. The heavily plated tail, however, did not. It smacked him in the head with the force of a sledge hammer wielded by a troll, knocking him off and stunning him. He fell hard on his shoulder on the pavement, unable to roll out of the way as the nightshade came at him again with its tail.

This time, it wouldn't miss.

Tanya, taking advantage of the monster's distraction, had just dashed in and yanked her sword from the joint where it had stuck. She saw the tail whip around to sting Billy, and reacted.

She swung the sword in an arch over her head, and brought it down on the tail as it passed her. In two strokes she hacked it off. Blood spurted everywhere, coating the alley, and covering them all in acid black.

The nightshade, hurt, bleeding, and realizing it had lost its main weapon, turned and blundered down the alley, trying to escape. Tanya knew they had to act fast and finish the monster off. If it ran, it would heal then come back to get them. Already it was almost to the street.

She acted, flinging her sword at it. The weapon flew through the air spinning like a silver boomerang, and lodged under the spikes on the nightshade's head. With a groan, the terror fell like a tree, cracking the pavement, and lay still.

Gasping for breath as the adrenaline faded, Tanya turned to the others. Black Hawk was up, and Billy was stirring on the ground.

"Come on!" Tanya said, "We have to wash the blood off! Demon blood is toxic, if it gets absorbed through the skin we'll hemmorrhage and die!"

She dragged the Kid to his feet, ducking under one of his arms. Black Hawk ducked under the other, and the three of them staggered down the alley towards the docks. They jumped off at the end, where the water was deepest. Black blood floated to the surface like oil. The three of them scrubbed desperately, removing as much blood as they could get off, before swimming underwater to a different dock to avoid the demon blood that covered the surface. They hauled themselves out and lay gasping on the splintery, tar stained boards.

"What in the name of Danu Talis was a nightshade doing in San Francisco?" Black Hawk coughed and spat dirty bay water. He'd got some blood in his mouth and had had to rinse it out.

"It just doesn't make sense! " Tanya said breathlessly. "It might have smelled the auras coming from the city and followed them in. The only place I've ever seen one, is up in Washington, or Alaska! They almost never come any farther south than that! I've heard that they leave their territory if their prey dissappears, to search for new land. That's probably what happened to this one, and it found the best place in 5,000 miles."

She sat up and rolled up her sleeve, checking the cut on her shoulder. It looked pretty bad and was already getting infected. She reached down and scooped up a handful of water, and dribbled it over the laceration. It foamed and hissed like hydrogen peroxide, causing her to gasp at the pain. She gritted her teeth and kept pouring until the fizzing stopped. The venom was gone now. She tore a strip from her shirt and bound it tightly. It still hurt, but now that she'd washed out the poison she'd be fine. Next Generation were stronger than that.

Billy was checking out an acid burn on his arm. It looked like a huge, blotchy bruise. He sat up and winced at the pain in his head from where the nightshade had struck him.

"Does it really matter what it was doing? It's dead now." he hesitated, a look of apprehension crossing his face, "Right?"

Tanya nodded. "Yeah, it's dead. I'm not sure whether it matters or not. It could not matter at all." she said, almost to herself. She rolled to her feet ,wincing as her shoulder stretched. "We should get back to the dorms. Kate will have told everyone what happened by now, and my phone is dead from the water,so I can't call to tell her we're alright."

The trio limped down the street towards where they'd left the car. As they passed the alley that held the dead nightshade, Billy turned and looked at the place where they had fought the demon. What he saw made him freeze.

"You guys better see this."


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm going to try to post all the chapters left pretty close together. Action packed chapter below. please read and review! this is my first fanfic and I'd like to know what people think!**

**Note: I had a dream in which I owned _Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel_. The rest of the dream involved lots of spaceships populated by clones of my siblings *shudder* and blue flying pigs. I don't own this. Michael Scott does.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

Tanya and Black Hawk stood next to the Kid at the mouth of the alley. Looking down it they saw ...nothing. Well, not nothing. There was still black blood and broken pavement, but in the place where the nightshade had fallen there was...nothing. Tanya's sword lay on the blackened and cracked asphault.

Billy was confused. "Where is it? Do they turn to dust or something? Like Torc Allta?"

"No they don't!" Black Hawk was just as confused as his friend, "There should be a huge, bloody corpse sitting right there!" he glared at the logic defying spot, which was definately devoid of huge, bloody demon corpses.

Tanya drew a sharp breath, realization dawning on her. "If it isn't here, and they don't return to dust, then that means..."

She turned, horrified, to stare down the street

"...It isn't dead!" she finished in a hoarse whisper.

A trail of jet colored drips led down the middle of the deserted street.

"It must have woken up and begun tracking us! We were covered in its blood, which masked our scent, so it followed the path we took to get here!" Black Hawk said

It hit Billy then what that meant. "But that will lead it straight to..."

The three of them ran for the car. Tanya nearly screamed. The worst case scenario was being realized. A demon was about to discover the largest group of immortals on the West Coast.

And the thing that demons crave more than anything, is immortal blood. If anyone activated their aura, the nightshade would go balistic trying to get a taste. It would feast until dawn, then flee to the darkest place it could find.

There would be no way to stop it.

No one would survive.

* * *

><p>Kate Barlow was terrified.<p>

Her slight frame shook convulsively, and if she breathed any faster she'd be hyperventilating. Her fingers clutched the edge of the worn, wooden step in a white knuckled grip.

The cause was her visions.

The fact that she wasn't getting any would be disconcerting any day, but in this situation, where she was supposed to be the one who knew what was coming, her inability to decipher the near future was like the loss of a lung, and had about the same effect on her.

The last few things she had seen weren't helping any.

She'd had a few glimpses: Tanya getting cut, Black Hawk trapped against a wall, the nightshade about to sting Billy, but then suddenly everything had gone black. She'd been on her way downstairs when it had happened and had nearly fainted.

She gasped for breath as tears of fear and frustration streamed down her cheeks. Her friends could be dying, could already be dead, and all she could do was sit on the stairs and cry, seeing only darkness and feeling only the tension that had not lessened any in the past hour.

Calpurnia was trying to comfort her, calm her down, so she might have a chance to see more.

Even if she didn't see anything, Kate was one step away from hysterics.

Calpurnia pried one of Kate's hands from the step and gripped it tightly.

"Now come on girl, stop getting so worked up! We all know that the three of them can more than handle themselves. They'll be fine, you understand? They're probably on their way back here right now! Four years ago when that chimera left the desert they were the ones who truned it back and made sure it would never return! I've seen Black Hawk stop earthquakes. Billy single-handedly defeat 15 Torc Allta without getting a scratch, and Tanya fought at every major battle here since the Revolution! They're warriors, they won't get killed down some alley in San Francisco!"

Kate gulped "I-I know that!" She hiccupped, "It-it's just, I c-can't see anything! And if that, that_ thing_ is coming here, if they couldn't kill it...I'm so scared Cal!"

Cal shook her head. A few hours ago, Kate had asked to go on an incredibly dangerous mission, yet now here she was crying like, well, a 17 year old.

Even though she was actually nearly 50, at 17 she'd stopped aging, so now she was stuck crying when she got stressed and all the worst things that she'd had to cope with when she was fully human. She was showing loads of promise, but her training wouldn't be over until she could both master all the needed skills and control her emotions and aura fully. Until then she couldn't go on any missions. In less than a month she would be tested and granted active agent status if she could pass the test. She needed to pull herself together now, if the wrong people found out she'd been crying on the stairs while working on a mission, she might not be allowed to pass.

The dorm head tried to help her.

"Hon, look at me. They are gonna be fine. As for that demon you saw, if it isn't dead when they're done with it, all it will be able to think of is getting as far away from this city as it's possible to get. Come on now!"Cal pulled out her secret weapon. " If folks see you crying they're gonna think you can't handle mission stress."

Kate gasped and made a visible effort to pull herself together. If she passed the test now she would be the youngest ever agent employed by the elders, smashing even Billy's record of full acting status at 53. Nothing could jeoparadize that. Not even a nightshade.

Cal was relieved at the effect the statment had on Kate. "Good girl. Do you need me to get you anything?"

Kate gulped again. "No thanks Cal. I think i just need some air." She got up and staggered out the back door, flexing her fingers. She'd clutched the stair until they'd cramped.

Cal watched her go, wishing she was as sure as she'd sounded.

In truth, she was worried sick.

Why hadn't one of them called yet?

She made a decision. If they weren't back in 15 minutes, then she was calling Quetzalcoatl. She wouldn't launch a search party.

When she'd told Kate that they were the three best fighters in the dorms she hadn't been exaggerating any.

And if they couldn't handle a demon, then nobody could.

* * *

><p>Outside on the steps, Kate dropped down on the grimy concrete, and took deep gasps of the cool moist air. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve.<p>

_Cal's right,_ she thought,_ pull yourself together Kate!_

She shut her eyes, trying to see anything at all. A sound across the street made her open them.

Her heart leaped as she thought for a moment it might be the group returning.

Something caught her eye.

In the light of the street lamp, a puddle of something black shone. What was it? Oil? It hadn't been there a minute ago. She squinted into the shadows between lights, trying to locate what had made the sound.

She'd nearly dismissed it as a stray cat when more movement caught her eye.

The hair on the back of her neck rose, prickling.

Then the shape moved into a pool of halogen light, and she choked in horror as the nightshade turned its two remaining eyes and found hers, two new tails waving over its back.

* * *

><p>The car sped through an intersection and burned rubber around a turn.<p>

Black Hawk was driving like a maniac.

Billy had lost count of how many traffic rules they'd broken after it had reached 22. If the streets had been any less deserted they would have been pulled over at least 15 times already.

They ran a red light, and Billy could practically hear the traffic camera clicking as it took pictures of their faces and the liscence plate. Oh well, they could worry about that later, when lives weren't at stake. Now the thing to worry about was the blood thirsty demon at their destination, and how on earth they were going to stop it.

"Once we get there what are we going to do?" he gasped at Tanya.

"We're going to improvise! That's what we're going to do!"

"Improvisation is where you use a red hot knife instead of a blow torch! Not what you use to defeat a nightshade!"

Tanya pulled out her bow, and grabbed her poisoned arrows, dipped in one of the world's most powerful neurotoxins. Even a bad hit would cause the death of a human in under 10 seconds. They ought to at least inflict some serious damage on the shade. If she could hit a joint. Or an eye.

"New plan."She said. "Make it all up as you go along! And don't die!"

Billy nodded. "Sounds good to me!"

She climbed over the seat, into the back of the jeep. Her glider was back there, folded up. A new strategy was emerging.

"I'm gonna take the glider. I can get there faster as the crow flies! We might be able to give some extra warning!"

She opened the hatch, unfolded the balsa and silk structure and launched herself upwards. The air being pushed by the car flung her high enough that she could use her magic to bring a strong wind from above the buildings down to lift her. Once she was past the skyline, over the power lines and high rises, the wind sped to hurricane force, and sent her streaking like an arrow towards the dorms.

Billy pulled another pistol from the back of the van, and loaded, it along with his other one.

He handed a third to Black Hawk as they sped down the dark streets.

It was time to show that demon just what it had gotten into.


	6. Chapter 6

**Final official chapter! Thanks for reading! Please review!**

**I don't own SOTINF. Michael Scott does and he is wonderful. ^_^**

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><p>Chapter 6<p>

Kate stared at the monster that could have easily stepped out of a nightmare.

Her first instinct was to make a grab for the door, but she knew that if she made any sudden movements it would strike. Slowly she reached around behind her, for the knife she kept in her belt. Her fingers gripped the leather wrapped hilt tightly.

She now had a weapon, albeit one of little use. She fought the urge to charge the blade with her aura, to send sapphire spears of energy through the shade's eyes.

It would certainly guarantee her instant death, and might not have any affect, the hand that was not holding the knife, she slowly reached for the door.

Her fingers just brushed the metal, when the nightshade snarled and tensed.

The beast was about to strike.

She was going to die.

If she screamed now, the others might have enough warning to escape. At least some of them might survive.

And then a streak of blinding amber light came rocketing down from the heavens.

* * *

><p>Tanya banked around an over pass, and shot towards downtown.<p>

The glider was shaking. Balsa was never made to take such strain. _Come on,_ she thought, _just a little farther..._ she dodged a power line.

_Just a minute more._ She could see the dorms, and the scene unfolding in the street outside. She saw Kate move, and the nightshade tense, and before her mind had time to realize what she was doing, she had gone into a dive. She had to distract it, break it's focus somehow, otherwise Kate was dead.

She brought her aura to life. It would strengthen her attack, and be more distracting than anything else. Besides, she was on the glider, out of the monster's reach.

She flipped the glider over as she dove, and focused her aura into a protective sheild around herself.

She continued her dive, locked her knees, and crashed both steel plated boot heels into the demon's skull, before richocheting back up to a safe distance.

It would have been perfect.

But the universe cannot allow anything to be perfect. So it threw a wrench into things.

This came in the form of Tanya's boot laces snagging on on of the spikes protruding from the back of the nightshade's head...Just as it shook it's head in pain from her attack.

Instead of getting back out of the way, Tanya found herself being flung back around, all of her momentum gone.

The lace that had caught chose that moment to snap, so she had to fly back past the demon's head. It might still have been fine, but the broken lace choose then to dump its load of bad luck on her.

As she passed the demon, the trails of her aura caught it's attention.

Pain forgotten, it lunged forwards and seized the wing of the glider in its teeth, and shook it, like a terrier with a rat.

As the wood snapped, Tanya was flung away crashing headfirst into a wall.

She tumbled to the ground, unconscious, as half of the glider fell on her, and the nightshade discovered that it had somehow missed its target.

* * *

><p>Black Hawk gunned the jeep around a corner. They were just seconds away from the dorms.<p>

As they came around the corner he saw what was happening and it was not good.

Kate had just dashed inside to raise the alarm, and Tanya was on the ground under the splintered remains of her glider, with the nightshade searching for her. As they watched, it spotted her.

Black Hawk floored the gas pedal.

The nightshade was ecstatic. All its troubles were forgotten instantly, what did it matter that three immortals had injured it? It had just found a hive of immortal activity.

The entire area reeked of auric energy. And here was one of the pests that had hurt it, lying defensless on the ground. It lumbered towards where the girl had fallen.

Black Hawk braced both arms against the wheel, teeth gritted against the coming impact.

The nightshade saw the headlights and heard the roar of the engine. It turned to confront this thing that had distracted it from its prey. And the thing crashed into it like a tidal wave.

Black Hawk had closed his eyes at the last second. He opened them when the impact hit, like crashing into a brick wall. Black slime was smeared across the windshield. Then the car flipped as the demon thrashed to escape this newest attacker. The jeep rolled twice before coming to rest back on its tires, body dented, every window shattered.

Billy kicked open the door and fell out, shedding safety glass pellets.

Black Hawk pried his fingers off the wheel, heart hammering. He pulled out his bow and climbed out through the obliterated windshield, sliding off the hood.

The nightshade was bleeding again, it's armour badly cracked, and half its legs useless, one of it's pincers crunched. It bellowed and lunged at the jeep, ripping the top off and knocking it over onto its side. The two immortals dove out of the way.

Black Hawk nocked an arrow and shot the demon in the back of the neck. It turned on them.

He suddenly noticed the two regrown tails.

"Oh..."he managed before it lunged.

Kate dashed back outside, holding a sword. She was just in time to see the jeep crash into the demon at full speed. She saw Billy and Black Hawk climb out of the car after it flipped.

She started looking for Tanya. What had happened to her friend? Kate spotted her near the wall and ran to help her while the nighshade was distracted, dragging her out from under the wreck.

"Tanya! Are you alright?"

Tanya coughed and pushed herself up.

"Kate! The arrows. Shoot it!"She pulled two from her quiver and handed Kate the bow. Taking the sword from Kate's hand, she ran to help the others.

Kate looked from her to the arrows in her hand, and realized what she had to do. She looked at the bright green feathers. Green meant poison. If she could aim true...

She leaped up and ran towards the fight. nocking an arrow to the string.

Tanya barely managed to push Black Hawk out of the way before the demon struck. A milisecond later and they both would have been dead.

A shot rang out as Billy tried and failed to hit one of the nightshade's remaining eyes. It turned on him instantly. He dove under the snapping teeth, and slid out from under it, still shooting.

Tanya went for its legs with her sword, trying to lame it further.

She screamed as one of its tails came flying at her.

"Its eye! Kate! Shoot it in the eye!"

Kate was about to obey when she remembered something from training. Tanya telling her about the poisoned arrows. _"...dipped in a neurotoxin that will stop your heart in less than 10 seconds. Be careful shooting these..."_

She looked at her target. The crimson eye was easy to spot, but it was constantly moving, ducking down as the demon attacked someone, occasionally blocked from view as one of her friends passed in front of it.

If she missed, or somone got in the way...

Kate hesitated to make the shot.

Tanya dodged the tail, expecting any second to see the flash of green feathers in the demon's eye.

It didn't come.

Then the second tail slammed into her. She rolled, but not quickly enough. The stinger missed but the tail slammed down on her ankle, razor sharp, serrated edge cutting through her boot, slicing deep.

She gasped at the pain, and Billy ran to help her. Tanya saw him just as the nightshade did. The monster swung around.

"Billy!"

The Kid turned, but it was too late to avoid it.

Kate shot.

A flash of green arrow. Black blood, and red blood spilled.

Tanya rolled to her feet, limping on her injured ankle. she staggered towards where her friend lay, bleeding from a gash across his chest.

"Billy!"

He was breathing, but every gasp drove more blood from his body.

Tanya opened his shirt to survey the damage. It was bad. The cut was an inch or more deep in places, and stretched from his shoulder to the end of his ribs.

She pulled off her jacket, holding it against his chest, putting pressure on the wound. With her other hand, she grabbed the blade of her sword and ran her palm along it ,slitting it open. She slowly lifted the cloth from the gash, dripping blood into it as she went. Her blood would seal the wound and replicate itself and other blood cells, replacing the amount he'd lost.

Billy stirred and moaned slightly.

"Billy! speak to me! come on Kid!"

Billy moaned again. " Ow." he breathed.

She sighed in relief. "You're okay. I thought we'd lost you for a minute."

The Kid's eyes fluttered open "It dead?" he asked.

Tanya looked over her shoulder at the nightshade. It was stirring slightly, tails twitching spastically. Tanya turned to Black Hawk, who had come up next to her.

"Keep pressure on this, will you?"

He knodded and took her place.

Tanya stood and took the bow and remaining arrow from Kate, who was pale and shaking.

"You did good, Kate." she said before turning to the nightshade.

Sheathing her sword, she drew the arrow, bending the bow as far as she could. She released it, the bow shooting the emerald feathered, poisoned flint deep into the nightshade's one uninjured eye.

The demon jolted and thrashed. She dropped the bow and pulled out her sword, driving it deep into a joint, twisting it. The monster went still. She braced her foot against it and wrenched out the blade.

She stood breathing heavily for a moment, flecks of blood dripping from the tempered steel, before turning to Billy.

"Now it is."

* * *

><p>An hour later Black Hawk stood near the nightshade corpse, staring at the twisted hunk of metal, that this morning had been his jeep.<p>

Kate walked up and stood next to him. He started laughing suddenly.

She looked at him, incredulous, "Why in the name of Abraham the Mage are you laughing?"

He kept laughing. "The insurance guys are never gonna believe this." he explained.

* * *

><p><strong>Just a little bit more to the story, few loose ends and all that...<strong>


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue

STRANGE EVIDENCE FOUND IN AREA OF KILLINGS

_This morning several people reported hearing strange sounds and gun shots coming from alleys near the city's docks._

_When police did a search, they found bullet casings, cracked and melted pavement, and a lot of an organic acid substance_

_previously unknown to science coating many surfaces. Although no bodies were found, it is clear that something big_

_happened. Several Forensic chemists have examined the acid police found, and confirm that they have never seen an_

_acid with an identical chemical structure. So where, then, did this substance come from? And how does this relate to the_

_recent murders? Police are still baffled as to who, or as some are saying, what killed those people. Some conspiracy blogs_

_are asking the inevidable question: aliens? When asked about his theory, one blogger told reporters he is sure this is what_

_happened. "How else can we explain these strange facts? An acid scientists have never seen shows up coating a crime _

_scene. People are killed without the police having a clue how it happened, no concrete evidence left. Speaking of concrete,_

_how to explain why so much of it was cracked or melted in the area? The only logical explanation is alien abduction."_

_Despite these theories, police are still looking for suspects in this case. further examination of bullet casings _

_has revealed the make of the gun that fired them, and traffic cameras have reported a vehicle leaving the area at high _

_speeds. Unfortunately, no camera got a clear shot of the vehicle's liscence plate, or of the driver. Police are still searching..._

CAR FIRE CAUSES LARGE EXPLOSION NEAR APARTMENT BUILDING

_A car exploded near an apartment complex early this morning in downtown San Francisco. The fire occured over a gas_

_line that had a small rupture in it. The resulting explosion destroyed half of the street. No one was killed and only a few _

_people sustained injuries, mostly from shrapnel. Calpurnia Rivers, the owner of the building spoke to reporters. "It was_

_quite an explosion." She told them while surveying the destruction. "I'm just relieved that nobody was killed. Only a few _

_folks were even hurt, which is frankly a miracle. All of them are fine now." The city... _

Black Hawk set down the paper, shaking his head slowly.

"Right in front of their faces, but do they see it? Of course not. 'The only logical explanation is aliens'? God."

Billy glanced in his direction. "I'm just glad none of the traffic cams got a shot of us. That would've been the living end. Defeating a demon, saving Marethyu only knows how many lives, and then getting arrested as a suspect in the murders."

Kate came walking in, face blank. Tanya follwed her ,grinning.

"Well? Did you pass?" The Kid asked.

Kate nodded dully.

"Dang it." Hawk passed Billy a fiver.

Billy grinned, pocketing the cash. "That's great! Now I won't have you bugging me about letting you go on missions anymore!"

"94." Kate whispered.

"What?"

"I only got a 94."

"So?"

"That's two less than you got when you passed."

"I had 4 years more training than you! Come on Kate! That's a great score!"

Kate still looked worried.

"Oh well. At least you didn't trip over your own feet on the way out like Billy did." Black Hawk said.

"Wow. seriously?"

"NO." Said Billy, hurriedly.

"Yeah, he did! It was incredible! You could tell they were wishing they'd marked him lower after he did that face plant."

Tanya grinned. "Even with two points less, you'll still be able to beat him at paintball."

"Did I hear a challenge in that?" The Kid asked innocently.

"Yes. Do you accept?"

He glanced at Black Hawk. "Alliance?"

"Sure. Hope you won't be sore if I shoot you in the back, though."

"Not if we beat them first. You better watch your back, though, in case I get you before you get me."

He turned back to Tanya.

"You're on!"

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><p><strong>That's the end! Bye everybody! Thanks for reading! Please review!<strong>


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